Cengage and McGraw-Hill extend merger deadline

Publishers Cengage and McGraw-Hill Education have extended the deadline for completion of their merger agreement to 1st May 2020. The merger, announced in May last year, had originally been set for completion by 1st February.

The US Department of Justice anti-trust division is reviewing the merger and has not yet announced a decision.

The merger has faced opposition in some quarters, with a number of student bodies writing to the DoJ last year to oppose it.

Meanwhile both Cengage and McGraw-Hill, as well as Pearson, were last week targeted by an anti-trust class action lawsuit in the US by independent college bookstores alleging anti-competitive behaviour connected to their 'inclusive access' course materials strategies.